Foods such as bacon or sausage that contain a large amount of water and solidified grease can cause problems when cooked in a microwave oven. Water in such foods is vaporized by contact with the heated melting grease as the food cooks, causing tiny explosions that can splatter portions of the grease around the oven. Thus, persons who cook such food in microwave ovens typically place the food on a pan that can collect the melted grease and cover the food with several layers of paper towels to restrict such splattering.
While many specially designed cooking structures have been suggested to minimize the grease collecting and/or splattering problems, known cooking structures for use in microwave ovens have required special care to avoid spilling the collected grease after the cooking is complete.